The Ghana Police Service says it expects the courts to rule today (Monday, June 27, 2022) on whether the two-day demonstration sponsored by Arise Ghana, which includes picketing the Jubilee House precincts into the night, should go ahead as scheduled.
Arise Ghana is mobilizing the people for the demonstrations in Accra, which will begin at 3 p.m. on June 28 and will end at 10 p.m. before continuing the next morning, June 29.
The demonstration is to protest “consistent and astronomical increases in fuel prices” and their attendant “excruciating economic hardships on Ghanaians,” the imposition of E-Levy, the grabbing of State lands by officials and the de-classification of vast portions of the Achimota Forest reserve, increased police brutalities and state-sponsored killing of innocent Ghanaians, and the demand for a full-scale and bi-partisan parliamentary investigation into COVID-19 expenditures.
However, the police said that “in order to effectively secure the safety of protestors and other members of the public,” they had requested the organizers to start the demonstration earlier and conclude it before midnight, but they refused to adjust their plans.
The police department published a statement on Sunday detailing their concerns regarding the timing of the protest and the location of the picketing.
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“Due to the lack of agreement between the Police and the organisers on the time for the demonstration and location for their planned picketing, the Police have had no option but to submit the process to the court for a determination. This was duly communicated to Arise Ghana in a letter on June 22, 2022.
“The case has since been filed at the court and the hearing is scheduled for tomorrow Monday, June 27, 2022.”
Arise Ghana disagrees
In response to the police application for restraining orders, Bernard Mornah, a member of Arise Ghana and the second respondent in the police application, stated that the reasons advanced by the police are fabricated with the sole purpose of denying citizens their constitutionally guaranteed right to demonstrate and express their views, and urged the court to deny the application.
Mornah further claimed that the application was submitted in bad faith and in violation of an agreement struck by the parties, and that granting it would simply enable the police to use the court as a weapon to obstruct and frustrate individuals’ exercise of constitutionally granted rights.
“That to further demonstrate the bad faith by the Police, the instant application even though on notice was served on me without a return date and this further demonstrates another bad faith by the Police to move the Application on our blind side”, he argues, and adds that it would be unjust for the application to be granted by the court.
SOURCE: GRAPHIC ONLINE
